"Dark Age Irish Flags--Again" Topic
8 Posts
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
Please remember not to make new product announcements on the forum. Our advertisers pay for the privilege of making such announcements.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the Medieval Painting Guides Message Board Back to the Ancients Painting Guides Message Board Back to the Flags and Banners Message Board
Areas of InterestGeneral Ancients Medieval
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Recent Link
Top-Rated Ruleset
Featured Workbench ArticleWhat's this FlexSteel we're always talking about?
Featured Profile ArticlePart II of the Gates of Old Jerusalem.
|
Grelber | 16 Mar 2013 10:28 a.m. PST |
"This time for sure!" as Bullwinkle the Moose says. Well, I'm painting a bunch of Crusader Irish figures for an Irish Saga army. The command set has a guy holding a flagstaff. I don't know what sort of flag to give him, though. The current Irish tricolor flag dates back to about 1830-45, the green flag with gold harp and the St. Patrick's cross flag go back to the 1790s, and the sunburst flag is late Medieval at best. Even that most Irish of colors, green, wasn't specifically associated with the Emerald Isle in the Viking era. The cover art on the box the figures came in shows an interlocking Celtic design. I can do that--I have the Dover book to help me--but I wondered if anyone had any definite information for any flags from the period of Clontarf or earlier. In lieu of specific information, what have others done? Grelber Who is starting to regret his decision to paint Irish in March as a St. Patrick's Day thing. Please note the remarkable self discipline I've displayed in not attempting to write this thing in faux Irish dialect. |
Grelber | 16 Mar 2013 10:30 a.m. PST |
Hooray! It worked this time! Grelber |
idontbelieveit | 16 Mar 2013 11:45 a.m. PST |
How about one of these? link |
Oh Bugger | 16 Mar 2013 1:26 p.m. PST |
Interesting question. Slingshot considered it some decades ago. The earliest flags seem to have been similar to early Norman ones, quite small, cross bar, triangular(ish) and with hanging decoration. Before that I would simply go with early Celtic ones Boars, fighting Cock, Deer etc cast in metal and stuck on a pole. Irish links to pre Roman Celtic Gaul and Britain are well recognised by scholars. Romano British infuence on early Christian Ireland was profound and could have extended to standards. Of course Harold's sons are said to have presented the High King with their father's battle standard when seeking a safe billet. A bit later than your chosen period though. |
Cardinal Hawkwood | 16 Mar 2013 3:02 p.m. PST |
"flag" may be a bit of an ambitous a term, "banner" at best, and not many, if any at all, and if they existed, which I seriously doubtt . quite small..all this modern stuff is totally conjectural and more fantasy than reality.. |
Swampster | 16 Mar 2013 3:52 p.m. PST |
link refers to some early banners – apparently from early sources. |
HistoryPhD | 16 Mar 2013 7:41 p.m. PST |
As a symbol of Ulster, the severed hand goes back to pre-Christian times. Whether it would have featured on a "banner" of some sort is conjectural at best, but I would consider it likely, given how strongly it has always been associated with Ulster, and indeed still is |
TwinCities Gamer | 26 Mar 2013 7:41 p.m. PST |
I'm not painting an Irish warband but the severed hand looks cool. |
|